Obama Should Pull US Forces Out Of Libya Coalition

By Siobhan Hughes
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–Rep. Candice Miller (R., Mich.) on Wednesday called on President Barack Obama to pull U.S. forces out of the international coalition against Libya’s regime, saying he had failed both to specify what national interest was at stake and to win the broad support of the U.S. people or Congress.
The lawmaker also cited an “intractably frayed” relationship among allied forces, which bombed Libyan targets in order to keep the country’s air space from being used by Col. Moammar Gadhafi to attack his own people. The Obama administration has said it wants to cede leadership of military operations in coming days, preferably to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but the shape of the new command is still a work in progress.
“Mr. President, you have failed to state a clear and convincing explanation of the vital national interest at stake which demands our intervention in Libya,” Miller said in a statement. “You have failed to state a clearly defined mission for our military to defend that interest. You have failed to win the broad support of the American people and the United States Congress in advance of authorizing military operations.
“The international consensus that you have touted as central to your decision making in authorizing the use of force seems to be intractably frayed,” she said. “For all of these reasons, I believe you must pull our forces from the coalition immediately.”
–Siobhan Hughes; Dow Jones Newswires; (202) 862-6654; siobhan.hughes@dowjones.com
–The Wall Street Journal contributed to this article.